Late Night Consoling

January 17, 2003 8:30 PM

125

Ignoring the idiotic employee who tried to tell me the game had been delayed a week when I called on Wednesday morning, I picked up my copy of Panzer Dragoon Orta that very night. I haven't been able to really give it all that much of my attention, but so far I'm loving it. The addition of dragon-morphing really does add an extra element of strategy, and it looks like carefully figuring out when to use each of the three forms (which are all available from the outset) is necessary to mastering the game. Most importantly for me, is that while I haven't seen much of the game yet, the little I have seen (especially that second mission) really does recapture the feel of the Panzer Dragoon world. And if that means anything to you, there shouldn't be anything else I need to say to get you to pick it up. Okay, enough of that...there's a crapload of news tonight, including this one really big story right below here.

	DON'T BUY THAT GAMECUBE YET! Thinking of buying a GameCube within the next two weeks? DON'T. IGN has confirmed with Nintendo that beginning February 9th and running through May, people who purchase a GameCube for $149 at participating retailers will get either Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 0, Star Fox Adventures or Mario Party 4 for free. Now that's a deal.
	Capcom, Capcom, CAPCOM! Capcom had their gamer's day, and there's a ton of stuff over at GameSpot tonight...first they have hands-on looks at Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (GBA), Dino Crisis 3 (Xbox) and Viewtiful Joe (GC), along with new details and shots from Onimusha Tactics (GBA)and Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO (Xbox), new details and a trailer from Resident Evil Online (PS2), new shots from Breath of Fire V (PS2), a first look at Mega Man Battle Network 3 (GBA), a first glimpse at Chaos Legion (PS2), and new shots from Mega Man x7 for PS2, and Dead Phoenix, Resident Evil 4 and Mega Man Network Transmission, all for GameCube. There's also a confirmation that Resident Evil 4 is Capcom's only guaranteed GameCube exclusive. IGN decided to be nice to me and post a summary page at their PS2 site, although there's still more at Xbox, GameCube and Pocket.IGN (just not as nicely laid out).
	Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Revealed, PS2 Maybe? There's tons of Konami news too, but here's the one you're all waiting to see...they did indeed announce Aria of Sorrow, their third Castlevania for the Game Boy Advance. Here's IGN's look at the game, which has impressions and screenshots galore. The game will be out May 6th. Also confirmed at that press conference is that Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi is indeed working on a PS2 title, although specifics (including whether or not this is a Castlevania) were not revealed. We'll see that one at E3 for sure.
	Konami, Konami, KONAMI! Here we go again...along with that Castlevania announcement came a flurry of others...ready? Here we go...they announced that they are working on their first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game in years, for GameCube, PS2 and PC (trailer at GameSpot). Other announcements included the surprise news that Silent Hill 3 will ship with a soundtrack CD, the return of Gradius, a surprise announcement that they are working on a game based on Todd McFarlane's Monsters action figures, and that DDRMAX2 will be coming out here this fall. Hands-on previews of Silent Hill 3 are up at both IGN and GameSpot, as are hands on looks at ZOE 2 (GameSpot, IGN). GameSpot has some shots from Ninja Five-0 (GBA) Cy Girls(PS2), and the new Yu-Gi-Oh! games for PS2 and GBA. For those who want a scorecard, here's their tentative PS2 release schedule.
	Ikaruga Preview Although it's easy to miss with all the craziness posted above, GameSpot also posted their hands-on look at Ikaruga for GameCube, featuring impressions and screenshots.
	Virtua Cop 3 Revealed No home platform's been announced yet, but here are the first details and shots from Virtua Cop 3 for arcades. This sequel adds a pedal which seems to enable a sort of bullet-time mode. More can be found at GameSpot (including a trailer).
	Phantasy Star Online in March According to Games Are Fun (who got it from CBS Marketwatch), the North American Xbox version of Phantasy Star Online will be released in March. No word on what, if any extra fees will be required.
	Splinter Cell Delayed IGN is reporting that the GameCube port of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell has been delayed until May of this year. The PS2 port is still on schedule for release in March.
	Hooray for Microsoft and Sony Sony's sold a lot of PS2s, and Microsoft's sold a lot of Xboxes. Whee. Honestly, there's so much real news tonight, that this kind of fluff scarcely even merits a mention. And yet I do it anyway...
	Misc. Media The first shots from Sonic Adventure DX (GameCube) are up at IGN tonight, while Games Are Fun has the first shots and details from Sonic Pinball Party (GBA). Also, GameSpot has new shots from Guilty Gear X2 (PS2), and Tecmo's official Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball site is live, with the expected new shots and info. And on the moving pictures front, IGN has new movies from Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution and Xenosaga.

Console Game of the Evening: Revenge of Shinobi for the Sega Genesis. Fun, but hard. Not Super Ghouls n' Ghosts hard, but really challenging nonetheless.

jason bergman

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pharoah mike

 reply
January 17, 2003 8:30 PM

Wow that's an amazing deal for the Gcube
- X-GOUKI
  
   reply
  January 17, 2003 8:37 PM
  
  indeed. now, wasnt guilty gear XX rumored to be going to gamecube as well? i sold my ps2 but i still have guilty gear x, and if GGXX is on cube, well damn i would get me a cube (and RE0)
  - grendel
    
     reply
    January 17, 2003 8:47 PM
    
    re0 r0x0rs
- crazywigga
  
   reply
  January 17, 2003 8:53 PM
  
  Cube time!